


The Robin That Sings in Winter

by misura



Category: The Magpie Ballads - Vale Aida
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-29 08:24:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16740502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Aside from the seriousness of their situation, the very real danger, it was the stuff of fantasies.(Savonn and Emaris get snowed in)





	The Robin That Sings in Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alpheratz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alpheratz/gifts).



Having eliminated the unlikely, Emaris was forced to conclude the impossible, which was that Savonn had contrived for the two of them to get both lost and separated from the rest of the patrol on purpose.

In view of their circumstances - surrounded by snow and cold and howling winds, with supplies that might last them a few uncomfortable days in the not at all probable event they were to find a shelter proof against the cold, it was a comfort.

Also a bit of an annoyance, but then, Emaris had grown used to such things by now.

 

True enough, Savonn guided them towards some sort of building. Not much of one, true, only it offered walls and a roof and a door that closed, so Emaris was disinclined to be picky.

He did permit himself to think, briefly, that if Savonn had planned this, he might have thought to put some firewood by the hearth. With the snowstorm raging outside, the notion of going out and collecting any did not even qualify as impossible.

Even with their blankets, it would be cold. More comfortable than if they had stayed outside, true. Come morning might still very well find them both dead, though, which seemed to Emaris not at all likely to have been the purpose of the exercise.

So. They were to be rescued, or found by a third party somehow, and Savonn would say nothing of this to Emaris, because Savonn preferred surprising people over preparing them and spoiling his fun.

"We should eat something," Emaris said. He did not feel particularly hungry.

Savonn finished pretending to inspect the shed. "We need warmth more than sustenance."

"I'm aware." Emaris wondered if Savonn wanted him to sound scared. He could think of no purpose served by him losing his calmth. "Unfortunately, we have none."

"Untrue, gazelle." Savonn's hand reached out, halting a short distance in front of Emaris's chest. Had Savonn held a dagger, he might have pierced Emars's heart with the gesture. "For as long as we breathe, our bodies will produce heat."

What good that would do them, with Savonn unable to even bring himself to touch Emaris was unclear.

Emaris was tempted to make this point by bringing up his own hand. "And this will help us how?"

"A trade," Savonn said. Anyone who did not know him well might have thought him unconcerned, unafraid. "My warmth for yours, and yours for mine."

Aside from the seriousness of their situation, the very real danger, it was the stuff of fantasies.

"No," Emaris said. Savonn did not want to be touched. Therefore, Emaris would not touch him. It was as simple as that, or should have been, rather. Savonn seemed intent on muddying the issue, as was his wont.

"Afraid for your honor?" Savonn asked. He had hidden his hands from sight, ostensibly to keep them warm. Emaris suspected that they might be trembling.

Naturally, that might come from the cold. Savonn made it easy to forget, sometimes, that he was human, possessed of a body and all the physical weaknesses that came with it.

"My honor is yours for the taking," Emaris said, partly because he wanted to see Savonn surprised and partly because it was true.

Predictably, Savonn refused to oblige him. "If that is what you say to everyone who propositions you, it is to be considered a miracle no one has yet accepted your offer. A little dramatic, I will grant you, when one is only looking for a few hours of pleasure. Perhaps you should work on a response that smacks a little less of long-lasting commitment. You might be more successful then."

"If you really want to know what I tell people who proposition me, you can give it a try. From what I've heard so far, I haven't been very impressed," Emaris said.

Of course, Savonn hardly needed to proposition people. They seemed to fall in love with him all on their own, with no need for Savonn to do anything but be himself.

Emaris might have preferred to be more original.

"I am unconvinced that there is anything in the world that might impress you, gazelle." Savonn smiled. Emaris thought that if there had been wine, Savonn might have indulged himself, to work up his nerve.

"You do, from time to time." Which was to say: nearly continuously, though not always in a positive way. "You work at it hard enough, after all."

Savonn took a single step forwards. "Our choices are very simple and extremely limited." He was determined to go through with it, then, though Emaris still failed to discern the greater plan, the scheme behind it all. Who else might be wandering these mountains in the middle of winter but them? Savonn had presented the outing as an exercise, a bit of a lark. They hadn't been expecting to find anyone or anything. Even animals knew better than to venture outside in this kind of weather.

 _'You don't have to do this,'_ Emaris wanted to say. _'I know that there's no real danger. I know that you have a plan, even if I don't know the details.'_

Savonn took another step. Emaris suppressed a sudden urge to push him away, to yell at him to stop acting like this, forcing himself into a role Emaris knew full well Savonn did not wish to play.

"You might even say that we have no choice at all," Savonn said, sounding as if it was himself he wanted to convince, rather than Emaris. "Both of us are young yet, with many years yet to go."

Emaris did not push. He simply brought up his hands, slowly, so Savonn would see him coming, and put them on Savonn's shoulders, careful to avoid touching Savonn's face.

To his surprise, Savonn let him. "Better."

Emaris thought about kissing him. "You'll have to get a lot closer if you want my warmth." And naked, at some point, probably, but Emaris tried not to think about that, about having Savonn pressed up against him as if they were lovers, as if Emaris had won where everyone else thus far had failed, with the possible except of Hiraen.

"Must I do all the work, then?" Savonn asked. "For shame. And you my squire."

Emaris imagined taking Savonn's clothes off. His hands trembled. He did not want to - yet even so he _wanted_. A selfish sort of want he had thought to keep hidden from Savonn.

"If we're going to do this - " though it seemed that there was no 'if' about the matter anymore " - it will be as equals. You can't expect me to follow your orders even when we - in bed," Emaris finished, even though no such piece of furniture was at present in evidence.

"You might like it. Some people do, supposedly," Savonn said.

Emaris moved. He and Savonn were almost chest to chest now. It was not a nearness that facilitated undressing. He felt Savonn's breath on his face.

Savonn produced a sound that might have been a laugh or a sob. Emaris thought he would have been able to puzzle out which it had been, except that Savonn kissed him then.

The kiss was not as Emaris had imagined it. It was infinitely better, because it was real.

It was also worse, because it was Savonn who was kissing him, and Emaris knew that having gotten this much, he would never again be content with less.

 

They made themselves a nest of sorts, made up from their discarded clothes and blankets. Emaris had decided, at some point, to give up on trying to discern Savonn's grand plan. Perhaps it had been put on hold. Perhaps all of this was merely a prelude.

 _Perhaps there never was a plan._ But that, he could not credit. This was Savonn, after all, whose body was as warm as Emaris's own, or even moreso.

"It is probably safe to sleep," Savonn said. "While assuming you will wake up again, I mean."

Emaris did not want to sleep. All of this might be over when he opened his eyes again.

"Sleep, then," he said. He would enjoy that, he thought. To have Savonn, sleeping in his arms.

"I might dream of you."

"Good," Emaris said. "Then you might stay out of trouble in your dreams, at least, even if I can't manage it in real life." No one could, of course. Few even seemed inclined to waste the effort.

"Trouble? Is that what this is? Should I be worried?"

Emaris did not know what this was, other than that he enjoyed it and wanted to make it last as long as it would. "Frequently. You never are, though, so there's probably no point in starting now."

"Next time you yell at me, I will remind you that you said that."

"I never yell at you," Emaris said. "I may scold, a little, when you deserve it. When you need someone to talk some sense into you." Not that that had ever seemed to work.

"You are more than I deserve. Thank you."

 _'For what?'_ Emaris almost asked. "Next time you tell me off for yelling at you, I will remind you that you said that."

Savonn chuckled. Nearly all the tension had gone from him. "Fair is fair. Now, sleep. I will need you again soon, and well-rested."

Emaris slept. If he dreamt of Savonn, he did not remember it when he woke.


End file.
